By Maisie Ramsay
IBasis has received a buyout offer from its largest shareholder, Dutch telecommunications company Royal KPN.
KPN currently holds about 56 percent of iBasis’ outstanding shares, and wants to buy the remaining shares at an offer price of $1.55 per share, or about $49 million. The offer is a 19.2 percent premium over the company’s closing share price Friday of $1.30.
The iBasis board of directors will form a special committee of independent directors to consider the matter. The company gave no assurance that the deal would go through, or what the terms of a buyout offer would be.
In October 2007, Royal KPN merged its international wholesale voice business into iBasis. The company received the KPN Global Carrier Services business unit and $55 million in cash. In exchange, KPN became the company’s majority shareholder.
iBasis, which describes itself as the second largest carrier of international voice traffic in the world, provides international termination for more than 120 wireless operators, including Vodafone. It also provides retail prepaid calling services and enhanced services for mobile operators.